Just Business
I tapped my foot against the table, pretending to be zoning out. The hum of the café surrounded me, and I felt strange being in a normal human world. It was eight in the morning, generally not a time I would be awake. Zach and I had decided we wanted to watch the delivery the vampire had been speaking of. Since we didn't know the exact time of the delivery, we had been on post since six after taking a nap to make sure we would stay awake.
I sipped my cappuccino and continued to let my gaze drift over the world outside. More often than not, it rested on the alleyway behind the Tipsy Gypsy, where we assumed the delivery would come. When I didn't look at it, as I tried not to, I watched the people and cars going by. No one noticed me, as they were wrapped up in their own worlds. And I was just fine with that.
I returned my attention to the crossword puzzle in front of me, my pretense for sitting in the café for so long. I didn't think that it would work for too much longer. I would likely have to get a magazine or book from the nearby bookstore. Still, I had probably pulled the easier job. Zach was on the roof of the building next to the Tipsy Gypsy, waiting for my word that the delivery truck was there so that he could get a good look at what was going on.
The chair next to me was pulled out and a young man sat down. I was surprised when he placed his coffee cup on the table and smiled at me. His skin had a deep tan which perfectly framed his white teeth and green eyes.
"Hey," he said.
I blinked, "Hi."
"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked.
When I hesitated, he continued to talk.
"Sorry, I don't normally do this. You just seem like a nice lady, and I guess I was feeling kind of chatty today." He grinned at me apologetically.
I recovered, "Sure, I don't mind." I weakly gestured toward my crossword puzzle. "I've been doing this for hours but I'm afraid I'm no good at it. I think I'd rather watch what's going on outside the window."
"Do you mind if I have a look?" He asked, holding out his hand.
I silently hoped he was horrible at crosswords. If he finished mine quickly, I would be that much closer to no longer having a reason to be here. I smiled at him and handed my pencil and crossword over. As he looked over the puzzle, he twirled the pencil with his fingers.
"That's pretty impressive," I said without realizing it.
He paused, looking up. I immediately felt abashed.
"Your pencil gymnastics I mean," I mumbled.
He laughed, "Yeah, I guess I do it without thinking now. Do you want to learn how to do it?"
Just before I was about to respond, I noticed a large truck pull into the alleyway. I had such bad luck.
"That would be great," I said. "Though I don't know if I'd be any good at it. Would you mind waiting until after I go to the bathroom?"
"Sure of course," He said with a grin.
"Try not to finish the entire crossword while I'm gone," I teased.
I grabbed my purse and headed to the bathroom. After closing the door and locking it, I quickly dialed Zach's phone.
"Hey, I think I left the oven on at home," I said. "Would you mind turning it off for me?"
"Got it," Zach whispered.
"Thanks, see you."
I actually went to the bathroom, for good measure, and then rejoined the stranger at the table.
"Before I teach you any of my trade secrets, I thought we could introduce ourselves," he said. He smiled at me and extended his hand. "I'm Mark."
Again, I assessed his features. He had strong bone structure, and there was some intelligent glimmer in his eyes that made me curious and suspicious at the same time.
"Jackie," I said, shaking his hand. It was colder than normal, which surprised me.
"So, now that's out of the way," he pulled another pencil from his pocket and handed me back my own. "Hold it like this to start."
I followed his instructions as he taught me how to twirl my pencil. Soon enough, likely due to the dexterity that came with my slayer training, I was twirling that pencil back and forth so quickly it was a blur.
Mark laughed, "You're a natural!"
"Why thank you," I said, stopping the pencil and setting it down on the table. I realized I had been letting my guard down and not watching the alley as much as I should have. There should be no problems though. I just had to wait for Zach's signal. I glanced up and ensured that the truck was still there and that it was still peaceful outside.
"So, back to this crossword?" Mark asked. I returned my gaze to him and nodded.
As we went, we chatted about ourselves. I tried to make it mostly about him, though I did tell him I was staying with my aunt on the outskirts of town. When we had conquered up to 36 down, I heard the telltale vibration coming from my purse. Just one buzz. This was a good sign. I pulled out my phone and opened the text.
"The house didn't burn down," it said.
"Oh wow, look at the time," I said, acting surprised. "I have to go shopping with my aunt in twenty minutes."
"Ah, well this was fun," he said. I rose from my seat and smiled at him.
"Yeah," I said, realizing I wasn't sure how to leave without being awkward. "Thanks for teaching me and helping me with the puzzle.
He nodded, and realizing he still had the puzzle in his hands, extended it to me.
Shaking my head, I pushed it back toward him, "You keep it. I don't think I have the motivation to finish it on my own. See you around." I gave him a little wave and began to head toward the door.
"Hold on a second," he said. I turned back to see him scribbling something on a napkin. "Don't forget this, you're going to need it."
He put the napkin in my hand. I spread it open and saw that there was a number on it.
"My phone number," he winked. "Don't lose it."
My jaw dropped for a second before I laughed.
"You're quite forward aren't you," I said.
"I know when I shouldn't let someone walk out of my life for good," he said, with a serious yet jovial expression on his face.
"Honest and corny," I said. "Interesting combination." I waved again and left the café.
I walked a few blocks to the parking lot we had left our car in. Zach was already there, leaning against the side of the car. I smiled and waved, pretending to be the doting girlfriend he was waiting for.
"Hey you," I said, opening my arms for a hug.
"Hey," he said, wrapping his arms around me and planting a kiss on my forehead. He pulled open the passenger door and let me get in before getting in the driver's seat.
As we pulled out into the street, our façade fell away.
"So, how'd it go?" I asked.
"Fine," he said. "There aren't many people working for this club. It's clear they keep their ranks small and tight. I'm not sure if the people know exactly what they're moving in all those boxes. If they do, we can bet the vampire is paying them a lot for their work and silence."
"Did you get an idea of how much blood they bring in?" I asked.
The blood they got in a shipment would likely last for a month at the most, so we were looking at a month's worth of shipment.
He sighed, "It's hard to know for sure, but if there were ten bags a box, there were twenty boxes. Which means around 200 bags."
I did some quick math in my head, "So on average she's selling seven bags a day."
He nodded.
"That's a pretty decent flow of customers, considering that bagged blood isn't a cheap drink," I said.
"What do you think we should do from here?" he asked.
After a couple of minutes of thinking about it, I spoke up.
"What if we hung out a couple of days by the bar and caught some of her customers?"
His brow creased, "We wouldn't be able to do that too long before she begins to notice that her customers aren't returning."
I shrugged, "Seems like if we can get more vamps than just our main target, it's worth it. We could just do it for a couple of days and then kill our actual target before she gets wary."
Zach thought about it for a few minutes and then nodded.
"Seems like an okay plan. We just have to be careful that no one notices."
I agreed with him.
"And where exactly are we going to put all of the dead bodies?" he asked.
That was a good question.
